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Sociology Program

Photo by Pete Mauney '93 MFA '00
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[The sociological imagination] is a quality of mind that seems most dramatically to promise an understanding of the intimate realities of ourselves in connection with larger social realities. —(C. Wright Mills) 

About the Sociology Program
Photo by Eliza Watson '21

About the Sociology Program

We provide students with an understanding of the structures and processes of human society—from everyday interactions with friends, coworkers, and family members to macro-level processes of global magnitude. The sociology curriculum offers a theoretical and methodological foundation for examining social, cultural, and political forces and analyzing how they shape people’s behavior, interpretations, social status, and well-being. Through exposure to a wide array of quantitative, qualitative, and historical research, sociology students learn to study the social world in a way that is both rigorous and flexible.

Our Faculty
Professor Laura Ford's Laying Down the Law course. Photo by Eliza Watson '21

Our Faculty

Faculty research and teaching areas include: social inequality; gender and sexuality; sociology of law; environment and society; globalization; politics and social movements; religion; deviance, crime, and punishment; urban sociology; family; demography; historical sociology; social theory; and research methods.

We are excited to welcome two new faculty members to the program! In fall of 2021, Dr. Karen Barkey will join us as the Charles Theodore Kellogg and Bertie K. Hawver Kellogg Chair of Sociology and Religion. The following academic year, we will welcome Assistant Professor of Sociology Jomaira Salas Pujols.
 

Meet the Professors

News
 

  • We are excited to welcome two new faculty members to the program! In fall of 2021, Dr. Karen Barkey will join us as the Charles Theodore Kellogg and Bertie K. Hawver Kellogg Chair of Sociology and Religion. The following academic year, we will welcome Assistant Professor of Sociology Jomaira Salas Pujols.
  • Professor Yuval Elmelech's new book, Wealth, is out now from Polity press.
  • Professor Laura Ford's forthcoming book, The Intellectual Property of Nations, will be available from Cambridge University Press in June.

Our Students

In the Sociology Program, students are encouraged to engage in original research and experiential learning.

Student Work